During his Presidential media chat on Sunday, President Goodluck Jonathan said the government doesn’t know exactly where the abducted Chibok schoolgirls are being held by their abductors, but assured that his government is doing everything possible to ensure their safe return.
When he was asked if the government has any information as to where the girls are being held, he said “None; there is none.”
Speaking further on the abducted schoolgirls, he Jonathan urged parents of the abducted schoolgirls to cooperate with security operatives by providing them with useful information.
He said “On the school girls that were kidnapped, it is getting up to three weeks now, one thing that we know is that from April 24, the security personnel have been searching everywhere. They know that this thing happened in Borno State, and Borno State is where we have the highest number of the terrorists called Boko Haram. If this thing had happened in another state and security personnel were moved, the whole world would have seen a lot of mobilization. Security personnel are already on ground. All the information given to us, we have searched the places, we have used helicopter to search the surfaces.”
He further said “We promise that wherever these girls are, we will surely get them out. The good thing is that there is no story that any of the girls have been hurt, injured or dead. I really sympathize with the parents and guardians of these girls. We are all fathers and mothers. Let us reassure them that we will get their daughters. I recently held a security meeting with the service chiefs and I also sent for the governor of Borno State, who came with the Commissioner for Education and the principal of the school and we had some useful discussion with them.
“We believe that wherever these girls are, we will get them out. What we request is maximum cooperation from the parents and the guardians of these girls. Up till this time, they have not been able to come out clearly to give the police the identity of the girls that are to return. The police have records of 44 of them, while the principal mentioned to me on Saturday night that 53 have returned but the police have record of 44. I recently set up a committee to go to Borno State, we will provide the security.
“We are pleading that the parents should cooperate with government, we will need the identities, including their photographs. We are also talking to neighboring countries so that wherever they take those girls to, we will surely get them back if we get the maximum cooperation from the parents and guardians. Let me reassure Nigerians that we will get the girls out, we appreciate the concern shown by Nigerians and globally. We see what they are doing in terms of protest, which is quite healthy.”
On whether the government was negotiating with their abductors, he said “You cannot negotiate with somebody you do not know. Nobody has claimed ownership of this abduction. As regards these girls, I do not know, you are journalists, you should know more than me because I do not have time to go to the social media. You cannot negotiate with terrorists and even the Boko Haram has not come to say ‘we did the kidnapping’ and so, the issue of negotiations has not come up.”
He also said that more than 80% of the abducted girls are Christians.
On the comparison between Boko Haram and Niger Delta militants, President Jonathan said Niger Delta militants are not terrorists.
He said “From the beginning of my political career, I have been involved in the Niger Delta struggle and even as a Vice President, I visited one of the notorious camps in the creeks. The Niger Delta militants approach was quite different from the terrorist approach. Niger Delta militants were not terrorists. I am not trying to defend them. Even when I was a deputy governor and governor, President Obasanjo would send for us and the leaders of these boys would come. They had a reason for their agitation and when you call them for a meeting, they appeared but Boko Haram members are people who want to kill, Niger Delta militants did not go to the market places to kill.
“You should know that the approach of terrorists is completely different. Terrorism is based on ideology based on religion or politics. Nobody has appeared that I am a member of Boko Haram. These are two different things that people tend to mix up.”
Still speaking on Boko Haram, he said “Starting from the Boko Haram, especially the last two bombings at Nyanya, it is quite worrisome because it came at a time we never expected. The security personnel have done well. If you have the information of the number of bombing plans of Boko Haram that security agents have frustrated, you will appreciate them (security operatives). When you read that lives have been lost and property destroyed, you will be amazed and people express anger on government. Let me assure them that we will continue to do our best and reduce this drastically.”
On seeking international support to tackle the insurgency, he said “In terms of our security challenges, we are talking to several heads of state all over the world. United States is number one. I have personally discussed with President Barrack Obama at least two times and I requested for one assistance or the other. We are operating with them on another level.
“There was a time I met with one of Secretaries of State and the issue of human rights abuses came up. I told the Secretary of State to send some of their people down here to Nigeria to come and join our own people here. I told the Secretary of State how they can assist us because for you to control terror, you must have a superior intelligence not based on ordinary human knowledge. I also told the Secretary of State that they don’t have to stay afar and claim elements of human rights abuses.
“Aside the United States of America, I have discussed with presidents of France, Chad, Niger and we have been discussing because we are going to do anything to ensure we bring this terrorism to an end. We have to stop this madness called Boko Haram.”
President Jonathan also debunked reports that he ever said Boko Haram members have infiltrated his Cabinet, he said what he said was that Boko Haram has infiltrated his government, and that cabinet and government are two different things.
He said “I never said that Boko Haram infiltrated my cabinet. My cabinet is made up of the President, vice-president, the ministers, Secretary to the state government, security advisers, chief economic adviser. These are people you can refer to as the members of my cabinet which we call the Federal Executive Council, (FEC).
“I never said that Boko Haram infiltrated my cabinet, what I said was that my government and in saying government, we have three arms which include the legislature, judiciary and executive arms.
“You will agree with me to a large extent because a senator was being prosecuted at a time for having a link with Boko Haram. I used the word government and never mentioned cabinet.”
On the missing $20b oil money he said “The foreign aids that come into Africa within that period that the CBN governor mentioned were not even up to the figures that Sanusi mentioned. So, can people steal more money than the total money that come into the country within a period of time? Even Nigerians can ask whether that is possible.
“Twenty billion dollars is a lot of money. If you steal $20 billion today, America will know. It is their money. Where will you hide the money? Even Dangote that is celebrated as the richest man in Africa today can not produce such amount of money.
“The CBN governor is not an ordinary man. He is the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Earlier he said it was 40 billion dollars that was missing, after some time he said it was 20 billion dollars that was missing. If he was not suspended, he would have mentioned another figure. But because of the suspension we did not hear about any figure. But do you think any body will steal 20 billion dollars and no body will know? America will know.
If someone or a group of people steals that amount, people will know. Where will you hide 20 billion dollars? Till this moment, we are still recovering stolen money from people, so where will you keep 20 billion dollars. So, I am telling you that if you steal 20 billion dollars, people will know even if Jonathan tries to cover it.
“The issue is being investigated. We have brought in consultants to investigate it. And the senate is investigating it. Of course, if anybody stole 20 billion dollars, we will get the money. That money is a lot of money.”
On when he is going to declare his 2015 reelection ambition,he said “I think Nigerians should concentrate more on the success of the 2015 elections and whether President Jonathan declares or not should not be an issue.
“Yes we have a number of political parties but we have two main political parties which is the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and All Progressives Congress, (APC). I can tell you that other political parties might even find it difficult to produce a presidential candidate because as at today, we have two major dominant parties. But it is likely that only PDP and APC would produce presidential candidates.”
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